Australia

World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW) couldn’t have come at a better time. With the recent US travel bans against countries that are predominantly Muslim and persecution of faith groupsincludingChristians at an all-time high; it sometimes feels like there is a war on religion as a whole.

A single beige demountable fitted with not much more than an air conditioner, a few chairs, and a patchwork of woven mats turned to face Mecca has become an outback symbol of religious hope. The Good Shepherd Catholic church in the remote Queensland mining town of Mount Isa has offered space in its parish building to the local Islamic community for use as a prayer room.

The Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia has released a statement addressing the killing of Fr Hamel in France this week. Father Hamel was a member of the Normandy Interfaith Committee and was well respected.

The Scanlon Foundation Surveys 2015 Mapping Social Cohesion Report has been released today, and it has produced some very interesting findings with respect to understanding Multicultural Australia today. Complex changes are reflected in this report.

50 Years ago on 28 October, the Catholic Church issued Nostra Aetate, which expressed new relations with other religions. Here, Pope Francis greets Jain Nuns in St Peter’s Square, Rome, on the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate

The importance of interfaith dialogue in today’s multicultural and multi-faith world was the topic of a seminar by Rev. Sef Carroll at the United Theological College in Sydney on 11 March. What gets picked up by media on how we perceive people of other faiths is not always the real story. There needs to be an affirmative narrative on what relationships with other faiths is about and I think that’s a responsibility for all of us in the Church said Rev. Sef Carroll.

Australian Muslims have been urged by the nation’s highest Islamic office holder to maintain civil behaviour in the wake of the controversial Charlie Hebdo magazine cover, but he also criticised the magazine for its double standards in publishing a provocative cartoon that was religiously offensive.

Halal certification in Australia (and worlwide) are in turmoil as suspicions and fears about channelling of funds to terrorist organisations are not allayed appropriately by those in authority. In fact, the halal certification authorities are under attack. The following opinion piece suggests that withdrawal from halal certification schemes is a blow to the economy and local industries.

The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) condemns in the strongest possible terms the outrageous depiction as reported in the media yesterday, of a 7-year-old boy shown holding the decapitated head of a victim.

Just as ANIC denounces the unspeakable atrocities committed in Gaza, so too do the Council of Imams Queensland speak out against the brutality carried out in Syria and Iraq including the alleged forceful eviction of various religious groups from their land.